Baptism and Communion
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in our fourth week of our Home Sweet Home series where we're discussing the church. We're just taking some time to dive into what the Bible says about God's people, about his church that Jesus died for to make his. Much of scripture is about the church.
It's God's plan, his people that he's going to use to redeem as he saves through the cross, that he's going to use a people to spread that message, to see more people come to know him, that once you become a Christian, once you've placed faith in Jesus, your sins are covered by him, that you're a part of his church, and that he dearly loves the church, that he bought the church. And so as we've gotten into this and continued to study and try to decide exactly what we ought to grow in and begin to understand, we started realizing there's some things, some gifts given to the church, some guards, some defenses given to the church that we really needed to spend some time talking about together. And so if we don't understand the context, the reason why these gifts were given to the church, then there's a danger of us completely missing the point. And so for the next couple of weeks we're going to talk about, today we're going to spend some time talking about baptism and the Lord's Supper.
So baptism and communion, we're going to spend some time talking about the Bible. In the next couple of weeks we're going to talk about the Bible, we're going to talk about leadership, we're going to talk about church discipline. So baptism, communion, the Bible, church leadership, and church discipline that are all actually gifts given to the church for the good of the church, for the protection of the church, because Jesus loves the church. But if we don't understand the context, we kind of miss the whole point. So if I told you that my wife stood up and yelled, What are you, blind?
It'd be helpful to know context. If we're at a baseball game, that's fine. If she's talking to me about the outfit I've picked out for us to go on a date, suddenly context matters and my feelings are hurt. Not really, I'd just be like, what? But it matters.
So when you watch the beginning of a James Bond movie, I always loved how they would take him in, they would tell him, they would kind of brief him on who the enemy was, what was happening. There was this crazy bald guy with a cat, and he wants to take over the world this way. And it was like always really big things. It was never like, it was always massive global domination, global destruction plans. And they bring James Bond in, and then they would take him into this room, and they would show him all these like tools for this particular mission. This pin shoots a bullet.
Let me show you this Audi that I've put missiles in. It also cooks hot chocolate, and those buttons are next to each other. Do be careful out there, James. Like they would always bring him in and show him all these things, and then like, but that doesn't happen in romantic comedies. Like in romantic comedies where their friends are discussing like how to go on a date, and maybe they come up with this crazy plan of like, I'm going to talk in your ear, or this is what you need to know. So like in Sleepless in Seattle, when he's sitting with his friend, and he's talking to him about, I'm trying to get back in the game of dating, and I need you to coach me up.
It would be weird if he was like, well, I've got a pin that shoots a bullet. He'd be like, what? Why do I? And I've got a car that has missiles. It's like this, that's what, I don't understand dating anymore. Like I've been out of the game way too long.
If I need a pin that could shoot somebody, like what on earth? And there's a little bit of us that when we approach some of the gifts given to the church, if we don't understand the context, we're not going to treat them appropriately. We're honestly not going to appreciate them. So let me give us a little bit of context, the cosmic story that is found in scripture, so that we can understand that when Jesus gifts the church with something, the context in which he gives it. God designed the earth perfectly. It was designed for humanity to flourish, for there to be joy.
Like he gifted the earth with good things for man to discover and to create and for humanity to come together, male and female, and to create more life and to have dominion over the earth and enjoy it. And humanity rebelled against God through the leadership of Satan. That in the very beginning pages of scripture, Satan shows up and we find out that God has an enemy. And because God has an enemy and God loves humanity, humanity has an enemy. Sin enters the picture. God immediately promises that he's going to fix this.
He's going to redeem. And he's going to fix this brokenness. And what we're faced with throughout the rest of the Bible is that we are, humanity is, caught in a cosmic conflict. That there is an eternity. We were designed to live for eternity and that each of our souls will exist for eternity. Either united with God in heaven or separated from God in hell and that there is an eternal, an eternally urgent conflict for the souls of every human you've ever met.
And when God gifts the church, saves the church, comes as Christ to die for the church to make a people for himself and then he turns around and says, this is how you ought to act. This is how you ought to treat each other. This is important for you. This is important for you. He does that in the context of that conflict. If your grandparents or great-grandparents or your parents explained to you how life worked during World War II but did not explain to you that there was a world war going on, you might be a bit confused.
Because you'd need the context of the conflict to understand exactly why they lived the way they did, made the bombs and the planes that they did, rationed food the way they did, why so many males from the United States left and didn't return. If you didn't understand the conflict, you wouldn't understand. Christianity is not just a religion where we practice some ceremonies. It's a people redeemed by the blood of God to be made, to be saved, to be made into his people in the midst of this conflict. If a father hands his son a sword and says, wield this with courage and boldness and bring honor to our name, a tear rolls down his face and his son is eight and on his way to a picnic, that was highly inappropriate.
And a doctor should probably talk to that dad. If his son is 30 and on the way to a battle and his mom runs in or his dad runs in and says, I made you a bag of sandwiches, have fun. Equally not helpful. Maybe he'll eat a sandwich on the way there, but the sword would have been better. I fear that when it comes to things like, specifically today as we talk about baptism and the Lord's Supper, that we've begun to believe that the sword and the shield hanging over our mantle are there for decorative purposes. We've museumed them.
We've taken armor. We've taken weaponry. We've put it in a glass case and said, isn't it pretty? And when you read about it in Scripture, it was not designed to just be ceremonial. It was not designed to just be decorative. The way Paul talks about it as we're going to read today, the way Jesus commands it and gifts the church with it, it was designed for our good and for our defense against our cosmic enemy, which is sin and Satan.
The problem with us is that our culture, and because we're in our culture, us, don't understand the danger of sin. We don't understand the destructiveness of sin. We don't understand the eternal cosmic proportions of sin. So we think, ah, everybody's having sex. It's not that big a deal. We celebrate it.
Ah, a little bit of greed, a little bit of self-promotion, a little bit of, you know, like it's, you don't want to be too humble so people will run you over. You want to have some confidence and some self-respect, and we've dressed up sin and acted like it's a little bit okay. Or we'll act like, well, this sin's not that big a deal. When the Bible at no point ever Acts like sin is not a big deal, Jesus died for sin, and somehow we lose that. So today I want us to pull the sword and the shield from off the mantle and realize it wasn't built decoratively.
It was meant for something much more as we talk about baptism and the Lord's Supper. Let's pray, and then we'll jump in. God, we thank you that you actively went to war on behalf of your church against sin. That rather than destroying all of us who were your enemies, you were destroyed for us in a fight against sin. That you separated sin from sin. And God, we praise you.
We praise you that you made a way to destroy sin without destroying all sinners. And God, we praise you and thank you for the gifts that you've given to your church to defend her. The gifts that you've given to us to protect us from your enemy and our enemy. And God, I pray that as we study this today, we would grow in our appreciation and our valuation of specifically baptism and the Lord's Supper as we talk about it today. That we would quit treating it as a ceremony but actually interact with you in it. Proclaim the gospel through it and fight sin actively.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So what we've got to do in our time this morning is answer the question what is baptism? What is the Lord's Supper? And then physically, what actually is it? And then we'll talk about why.
How it helps us. Why it was gifted to us. Why God has blessed us with it. So baptism, we'll take baptism first and then we'll look at the Lord's Supper in a second. So we're going to be in Romans chapter 6.
We'll spend most of our time there as we answer the why question. But before we get there I just want to show us a few places in scripture, reference a few places in scripture and answer the what question of baptism. The first time where baptism is mentioned is John the Baptist comes baptizing in the wilderness. This is the beginning of Matthew, Mark, and Luke and John all talk about the baptism of John the Baptist. And John the Baptist baptizes which just means that word's a cognate rather than a translation. So a translation we take the word from Greek and we turn it into an English word.
A cognate because it began to have more meaning attached to it we just take the whole word. So baptism is a cognate which just means that's basically the word they used in Greek which is baptizo not a Greek scholar baptizo and we take that word and we just say baptism or baptize. The word meant in Greek originally submerge to dip or to sink. So there's actually Greek writing where a boat was sunk in a battle and the writing says it was baptized. So it wasn't like a ceremonial thing to save the soul of the boat.
The boat was in trouble and it sank. That's what it meant. And so we just have taken the word though as it's been Christianized and meaning more ceremonially but that's why we baptize one of the reasons why we baptize completely by submerging people fully in water. So we have that discussion on a regular basis with people. They'll be like okay I'm going to get baptized but are you like I got to get completely like dunked underwater? Yes.
One of my favorite ones and I mentioned a lot is the guy he said hold on a second you would baptize me he said yes he said as an adult yes by completely dunking me in water yes you just described baptism as we believe it we baptize adults by completely dunking them in water. The reason we baptize adults as we see in scripture is that it is for people who believe in the gospel. So John the Baptist comes baptizing a baptism of repentance the Jewish people at this time had Jewish ceremonial cleansing and you would clean yourself so you would step into a pool when you wanted to become Jewish and you would do a special washing ritual and that meant I'm getting rid of my sin and I'm going to be good. John the Baptist comes and says no you need to repent and I'm going to baptize you.
To baptize you. He was symbolizing that you couldn't do this on your own you're not going to be good enough you need to come acknowledge that you're a sinner and then receive grace and he says I'm baptizing with water but there's someone who's going to come who's going to baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus shows up and is baptized by John. John says you don't need
To get baptized I don't need to baptize you you need to baptize me John was acknowledging that Jesus didn't have any sin to repent of that he was in authority but Jesus says no we should do this to fulfill righteousness to point to the purposes of this so he's baptized and then Jesus his disciples baptized and then Jesus
Before he leaves after he's died dies on the cross is buried and rises again he tells his disciples this and this is Matthew 28 we'll have it on the screen Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations a disciple is someone who actively cognitively purposefully follows Jesus make disciples
He's talking to his disciples who've been following him so he says go do the same thing we've been doing we're going to talk more about this in a couple weeks baptizing them so he tells the church when someone is becoming a disciple baptize them that's why we as a church don't hold that any special person has to do baptizing we believe that Christians baptize when we have baptisms one of the things
We say to people is don't let this be the last time you step in this water prayerfully you're baptized today and then hopefully you get back in here with somebody else that you helped point to Jesus we believe that we're called to baptize baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit so that's what we say when we baptize we baptize you
In the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you so that is people who are going to follow Jesus are baptized we believe that believers are baptized as a public declaration of their faith in Jesus we see that modeled in the book of Acts where it says
Things like Peter says repent and be baptized it'll say when they believed they were baptized all of them believed and were baptized it is a I have chosen to follow Jesus my faith is in Jesus I believe the gospel and I want to be baptized so baptism is a public profession of faith where a person who believes in Jesus and is deciding to be a disciple
Is baptized by a Christian which means dunked in water completely as best we can every once in a while the top of the head gets away and sometimes you start coming back up you realize it's dry you go back we got to get the whole thing that's what we go for this is how we practice it here publicly to declare I believe the gospel okay why what's the purposes behind it Romans 1 so Jesus tells us to
We can stop there we're told to but then it could turn into just a ceremony then it could just turn into oh it's a thing we do you know we're Christians so like we try to be nice to each other Jesus says to love each other and then every once in a while we all get together and we dunk people in water we're Christians it could turn into just a ceremony but Paul's going to help us see some of the purpose behind it some of the life behind it some of the goal behind it
When Jesus told us to baptize so he's writing to the church and he says what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may abound he's responding to something he just said which was however much sin you have Jesus has more grace so where sin abounds grace abounds all the more so then he answers a question in response to himself
If that's true shouldn't we sin to make Jesus his grace more amazing shouldn't I become a Christian and then say watch all the terrible things I can do isn't Jesus good his response no that's why some of you laughed that's kind of dumb don't do that but here's what he says here's the reasoning he gives behind this are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means
How can we who died to sin still live in it do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death if you have not been baptized I want you to listen as we go through this to help you understand what baptism is why we celebrate it why we celebrate it the way we do if you have been baptized I want you to remember your baptism because Paul in the midst of this
Discussion on sin says don't you know about your baptism don't you know what it accomplished don't you know what it was why you did it so if you have been baptized I just want you to take a minute as we walk through to remember your baptism and see the gift that God has given you in your baptism do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death
That's what we're celebrating at baptism that's why we take somebody and we completely dunk them in water what we're doing is we're symbolizing publicly that they are completely covered by Christ what he just said where sin abounds grace abounds all the more there's not a square inch of your sin that has not been covered by Jesus if you've placed your faith in Jesus there's not one thing that escaped
When you remember your baptism you remember that you were completely covered overwhelmed flooded by the grace of Jesus and then he says don't you know you were baptized into his death we always have this conversation with people when we go to do baptisms they're like is this ever like gone poorly and I guess what they're thinking is do people sometimes
Drown in baptisms like could I slip could I hit my head is there like a dangerous and my response usually is look that hasn't happened to us in years at least a couple like it's not that big a deal and then I'll go no I'm just kidding nothing bad ever happens in baptisms don't google it but there's this there's this this moment of like and there's supposed to be there's this moment
In your baptism where if you're completely covered by water you should you should realize if nothing changes I die I'm buried completely covered and this is the death of me if nothing changes baptism is a celebration of death our death swallowed up by Jesus'
Death our sin swallowed up by his grace so that when you're baptized you're baptized you're baptized into Christ and into his death don't you know you're baptized into Christ Jesus we're baptized into his death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father we too
Might walk in the newness of life if we didn't believe in the resurrection we would just get people together and drown them we wouldn't but that's kind of what Paul's saying he's saying just like Christ was raised you were raised so in this conversation
About sin he looks at the Christians and says remember your baptism don't you remember it you were buried in death with Christ your sin was overwhelmed by grace and just as Christ was raised you were raised that you might walk in newness
Of life five for if we have been united with him in a death like his we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his we know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin
Might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin baptism is a public rehearsal and proclamation of the gospel when you place your faith in
Jesus you're saying that when he died my sin died with him when he died I died with him and when he rose again I rose with him that my resurrection is certain through Jesus that's the faith that we place
In Jesus and that's what we celebrate at our baptism in baptism it's a proclamation of the gospel but Paul says to use it as a defense against sin that's what he's doing right here some of us
Feel like we can't help but sin sin controls us I would stop this it's just so hard I just wish I could quit
This I wish I could be free of this and Paul's response is verse seven for one who has died has been set free
From sin now if we have died with Christ we believe that we also live with him we know that Christ being raised from
The dead will never die again death no longer has dominion over him for the death he died he died to sin once for
All but the life he lives to lives to God so you must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus
And in 5 and 6 we read those again he says for if we have been united with him in a death like his
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that
We would no longer be enslaved to sin you don't have to be a slave to sin anymore Paul says remember your baptism you're
Dead to sin it has no claim over you anymore Jesus died to set you free from sin which means that sin no longer
Claims you when God looks at you he sees Jesus his grace abounding for you in the midst of your sin you're already free
And you can actually be free from sin as Jesus works in you some of you feel absolutely condemned and if you're a Christian
Paul would say look at he stayed in the grave way longer than you did you were symbolically remember that you died and you
Rose with him the other thing Paul says that we get to use baptism for is a defense against sin and it's a defense
Against quitting complete failure it helps us endure it helps us stand firm verse five for if we have been united with him in a death
Like his we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his your baptism is a moment where you publicly physically declaratively state
I'm in Christ and it's done publicly physically and you make a big deal out of it so that you remember I'm in Christ
I died with him I'll rise with him there's a story in first Samuel of David who's out in the pasture he's watching sheep
Samuel who's a prophet comes to his family and says that God sent him there to anoint one of David's dads one of his
Kids one of his sons is king he's going to be king so they bring in the oldest biggest son Samuel was like obviously
It's gotta be him he asked God and God says no his sons get like shorter and and each one he's like well it's
Gotta be this guy and no no no no no no finally get to the end and obviously they're just standing around awkwardly because
Samuel goes do you have any more sons and his dad goes um yep but he's not here and basically with kind of a like
So can't you just pick one of these like he's he's like nope you need to looking the Bible says he was attractive so
That's nice he's got that going for him Samuel the God tells Samuel he's he's the king anoint him Samuel pours oil pours oil
On his head and says you're going to be king you've been anointed king of Israel it's an amazing moment and then you know what happens nothing
David has an oily head and he goes back to watch sheep he's like I'm going to be king and his dad's like all right
King go king it up around the sheep because you're still short albeit handsome now get out of here eventually he gets called up to play music for
The king the actual king that king tries to kill him a couple of times but it says his music was good so I
Don't know he escapes a few times he eventually becomes a leader of an army but throughout the story as you read for Samuel the story
Unfolds there are these moments where you're like oh David's going to die oh he's never going to be king oh he's run out
Of the castle oh the other king's chasing him the other king's cornered him like there's these moments where he's you're reading the story
Of David and the whole time you're going how is he going to be king how is this even going to happen in these
Moments where you doubt it but then you remember no no no no no no no no God anointed him and said this was
Going to happen I don't know how it's going to happen I don't know when it's going to happen it's going to happen and
Paul says Christian in the midst of the absolute terror and confusion of life in the midst of sin seeming like it is your
Slave owner I want you to remember that if you've been united with him in a death like his you will certainly be united
With him in a resurrection like his he says Christian look back to your baptism we know the end of there but we know
You're going to get there that's what our baptism gets to be for us that we get to stand firm in the moments when
We have nothing else to stand firm on when our faith doesn't even seem good we get to say no there was a moment
Where I absolutely believed this there was a moment when I stood in front of people and I said I trust when I rose
Again and I know the promises for me that I have been told by the God the king of the universe that when he
Died I died with him and that I can be made alive again and that at some point I will be made into the
Image of Christ this is what is going to happen for me I have no clue how it's going to happen but I know
For a certainty that if I died with him I will rise with him and my hope is forever in Christ that's what your
Baptism gets to be it was a defense against sin that so often attacks and leads us astray your baptism gets to be in
Those moments when you have nothing else to stand on you get to say no I walked into the water and I been covered
By Jesus the way the water covered me his blood has covered me he took my sin on himself and I'm free that's the
Gift of baptism to the church that it's an open public declaration of I believe this and in the moments when sin comes we
Get to say no I'm dead to sin and in the moments when fear and doubt come we get to say no I know
The end don't hang it above the mantle it's a weapon of defense given to the church to keep us from having sin destroy us
Because God knows the destructive tricky nature of sin communion go to first Corinthians we got to ask the same questions of the Lord's
Supper first Corinthians 11 it's on page 622 and 623 we'll be looking at first question we've got to ask what is it physically
And then we'll ask the question of what are we actually celebrating what why do we celebrate it why has God gifted it to
Us Paul's writing to the Corinthian church let me give you a little background you can read it at some point I'd encourage you to at the beginning of chapter 11 basically
He's talking to the church who when they would gather together they would say we're participating in the Lord's supper but people would bring their own food some of them would be full some of them would get drunk some of them would
Have nothing and Paul says y'all are doing this incorrectly this is not the Lord's supper let me explain to you what the Lord's supper is what it is what you're supposed to do
And that's where we're picking up but in the following instructions verse 17 I do not commend you because when you come together it is not for better but for the worse wait nope yeah okay I'm right for in the first place when you come together as a
Church I hear that there were divisions among you and I believe it in part I didn't want to read this but we've started that's why I'm confused this is what I was just telling y'all about so we'll just read it and then you won't have to later for I believe it
In part for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized when you come together it is not the Lord's supper that you eat for in eating that's
Where we get the term the Lord's supper it comes from the Bible when you come together it's not the Lord's supper that you eat for in eating each one goes ahead
This is where I thought we were starting for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when
He had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in
The same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often
As you drink it in remembrance of me for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup you proclaim the Lord's
Death until he comes what is the Lord's supper physically it is eating bread and drinking what Paul calls the cup what in one
Of the gospels Jesus refers to as the fruit of the vine so we believe the Bible doesn't tell us what type of bread is broken
To symbolize the broken body of Jesus that Jesus did this instituted this with his disciples the night before he was crucified that he
Broke bread said this is my body broken for you that he took a cup which is fruit of the vine so we believe
That can either be grape juice it can be wine it's a matter of conscience conscience and your context we don't squabble over that and
He said this is my blood poured out for you and a new covenant in my blood as often as you do this in
Remembrance of me Paul says some of you get full don't you have houses to eat in we don't believe this has to be
A complete meal we believe that it can be it seems like that in the book of Acts in chapter 2 that they got
Together and shared meals and they were breaking bread and drinking together we believe it is a part of a meal or it is
Set aside separately to celebrate this idea that Jesus' body was broken that his blood was shed we eat some bread we drink grape
Juice or wine and we remember the gospel that's what happens physically here's the point and Jesus also he says do this as do
This in remembrance of me he doesn't say how often we ought to we have recently begun doing this more often because we believe
It ought to be a normal rehearsal celebration of the gospel for us we used to do this very sporadically and we have changed repented
And said no we need to do this more often as a church but we don't think there's any specific rule we just know that when we
Do it this is the attitude we ought to have first it is a remembrance of Jesus again we've said this is a gift
Given to the church baptism is a once and for all reminder of the gospel that Jesus once and for all covered your sin
Communion or the Lord's supper is a continual reminder of our need for the gospel a continual reminder of our ability to drift into sin
Our ability to drift away from Jesus the Lord's supper is a continual reminder of the dangers of sin the deceitfulness of sin and
The beauty of the gospel but he says do this in remembrance of me you're not supposed to clear your mind you're supposed to
Remember a definitive specific time in history when Jesus was nailed to a cross when his body was broken and his blood was shed on your
Behalf first and foremost we actively focus our minds on Jesus as we take communion secondly it's a proclamation of the gospel because he says for as often
As you do this for as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup this is verse 26 you proclaim the Lord's
Death until he comes we proclaim the gospel in this that this is for Christians who have placed their faith in Jesus to actively
Remind one another of this is what our hope is in this is what our faith is in that Jesus died for us that
His blood was shed for us that we actively proclaim the gospel it's also a participation in the gospel so he says this verse
27 Whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and
Blood of the Lord let a person examine himself then and so eat the bread and drink of the cup for anyone who eats
And drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself when we partake in the Lord's supper we are proclaiming that we
Believe the gospel which is I'm a sinner continually actively in need of a savior and Jesus his body was broken for me and
His blood was shed for me and this is the sacrifice for me that I might be made right with God when we do
This in a callous flippant manner we are proclaiming physically that we believe the gospel and acting on a heart level like we do not
When we have unrepentant sin that we are actively walking in actively running from God in but then we're going to gather with his
Church and say I believe that I'm a sinner in need of grace but actively not be repenting not being honest not being open
What he says is that you're actively stepping to the table and partaking in condemnation not grace because grace frees us up to be honest about
Our sin to repent to reconcile grace frees us up to be open with our failures and when we're hiding or when we're not we're
Not even paying attention to what we're doing but we're just partaking in communion partaking physically rehearsing that we believe the gospel while at the same
Time physically acting as if we do not spiritually and emotionally acting as if we do not so we participate in the gospel you're designed by
God's grace to actively practice a reminder of your need for the gospel and in that moment to reflect so that you don't drift most people do not
Violently leave Jesus most people do not violently leave the church most people make one exception after another believe one lie after another begin
To disregard one Christian friend after another and eventually find themselves far away from Jesus and far away from his people and it wasn't
An active run it was a slow walk and Jesus says actively partake of the gospel Paul says do this often and in that
Moment review reflect think through and say where am I believing lies where have I begun to run from Jesus where do I need the gospel
Actively now is the question we ask as we begin to take communion together now I want us to read this next section because it is confusing and
Every time I'm hanging out with a church and a pastor comes to a really confusing part of scripture I get excited because I
Think maybe he'll explain that and then I'll stop being confused and then they skip it because they are confused as well and I
Get really sad inside so let's all read this confusing section together that I do not have a clear explanation for but I do
Want to point something out to us is that fair doesn't matter we're reading it we'll start in verse 27 whoever therefore eats the
Bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and the blood of the Lord
Let a person examine himself then and so eat of the actually examined yourself prior to doing this and so he's talking about observed
Judged ourselves truly we would not be judged we would repent if you actually saw your sin and knew how dangerous it was you
Would just repent and God wouldn't pass a judgment on you we would not be judged but when we are judged by the Lord
We are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world I believe there what he is saying is that discipline
The judgment by the Lord and the discipline comes in verse 30 that is why many of you are weak and ill and some
Have died Paul is saying best understanding I have of this text that God's discipline towards his church is that in a flippant response to the
Gospel as they partook in the Lord's table without examining themselves with unrepentant sin with flagrant unrepentant sin that God in his grace disciplined
Them through being weak sick and dying now if my understanding of that text is correct I woefully underestimate the dangers of unrepentance and
Sin that's the only thing I can take away from that if God is good and in his grace disciplines because he says you'd be disciplined not
Condemned God does not condemn them his grace still covers them but because he loves them his grace is active in making them weak
Ill and dying it seems as if Paul just said that God in his grace and love for them some of them died I completely underestimate
Sin because that sounds way worse what he just said is God loves them enough to discipline them and this is how far God
Is willing to go in his discipline of his people to keep them from being condemned my brother and I when we were growing up
We lived in Tennessee and we had a little little bit of paved area in our driveway and the way our road it was
Kind of a neighborhood road but not really because people were pretty spread out so people drove quickly through this stretch of road and
You couldn't really see one way or the other too well so my older brother Logan was like five and I was like three and we
Would ride our bikes in our driveway out into the road loop around and come back sometimes we would just ride back and we
Were not allowed to play in the road so we didn't when he was around or if we knew he was watching and then
When we thought he wasn't watching we would play in the road and I mostly was just following the leadership of my older brother as
He played in the road so my dad would bring us in he would sit us down when he saw us in the road
My older brother Logan believed he could talk my dad out of this because my older brother at the age of five was vastly
More intelligent than my father and he understood this and wanted to articulate that to my dad my dad because of his density did
Not realize that this five year old was a genius and was unwilling to be swayed by his son's logical arguments which basically boiled
Down to no I'm looking we won't get hit by a car I'm paying attention my dad would respond you are five no you're
Not you're just not you can't pay attention all the time your mom and I don't play in the road because even though we're adults
We can't pay attention all the time he would have this discussion my brother would continue no no no hold a second now and
He would say the same thing my dad would get to the point where he would say nevertheless regardless of what you believe you have
Broken this rule you have played in the road when I told you not to and I'm going to spank you and if you
Say another word I'm going to add licks which my dad would lay us down pull our pants down and use a bell that's
How he did it and you got a certain number of licks depending on licks it's a southern word that means hit with a bell
Clarify we were going to get licks that's what we called them how many licks did you get three all right like we would do
That so he said I'm going to add licks and he go two three four and then finally Logan would go and I'd be
Sitting next to him looking at him as a three year old like you are a complete idiot we could have already gotten our
One lick and been back out on the road by now you made this take way longer and added to my dad eventually would just
Bring us inside like he would continue to spank us and eventually we weren't allowed to play outside anymore when I read this text what
I am struck with is that God sees sin so differently than I do he sees a lack of repentance in my heart so
Differently than I do my father knew what it looked like for a dog to get struck by a car my father knew what
Would happen to one of his children were he struck by a vehicle and my dad loved us too much to allow that to
Happen it would actually be my dad's wrath and punishment towards us to just say fine get hit by a car fine Logan live with the fact
That your younger brother who was three and was following you was struck by a car because you got out of way and he didn't
Fine live your entire life knowing that you killed your brother or that you severely handicapped him fine live your entire life in a
Wheelchair because you won't listen to me my dad loved us so he beat us because he loved us and when I read this
Text what I want to say is no God no you can't you can't some people died because they wouldn't they ate communion no
And we might would all come together and say that's crazy and I feel like I'm a three year old talking to a five year
Old and going our dad is abusive what is wrong with him and among the council of a three and a five year old
Certainly the road seems wonderful and certainly we've thought this through so when God steps in and it says when you partake in the
Gospel when you remind yourself actively guard against sin repent realize the heinousness and the danger of sin so much so that he would
Make people weak ill and die all I know is when I read that text I don't fully understand it but I know I
Don't think sin is as dangerous as God thinks sin is I know for a fact when I read that text that a good and holy
Father that loved me so much that Jesus would come to die for sin see sin in an eternal cataclysmic light that I don't see
It in because I'm much more okay with it floating around in my life than he is he's so unwilling for sin to be present
In my life that he died for it and if he's willing to take a Christian home prior to them completely drifting and being
Condemned praise God take him home because God sees eternally the Lord's Supper was given to us as a guard you see baptism and
The Lord's Supper stand at the door for us they stand at the door on the way in that Christians would place faith in
Jesus and be baptized that Christians would be Christians actually have belief in Jesus before taking the Lord's Supper and they stand at the
Guard on the way out as we begin to drift they protect us but you see God sees sin so much more dangerously than we
Do I was recently watching a documentary called dangerous animals or something and I didn't really like it because it was just a bunch
Of videos of animals eating each other and lions would come around this pack of water buffalo and their goal was to get a small confused
Weak or sick water buffalo alone so that the lions could eat it the only problem with their plan was the large full grown
Not weak or sick adult water buffalo and these lions would come around a little one and these giant water buffalo they got the
Flat like helmet heads with the hook horns like this would just I mean murk a lion which just means harm them with their
Head that's what murk means you can do it in football they throw a flag now and throw you out of the game but
Still fun to watch these big water buffalo I mean would just destroy some of these lions could kill a lion one on one
And you are going the lions are going to get him there they surrounded him and all sudden these water buffalo would come streaming
In and just I mean throwing lions in the air it was glorious and God set up baptism and the Lord's Supper as guards
For weak lost small Christians who've begun to believe the lies that sin tells and he said no let me give you some defenses let me give you some things to lean
Into in that moment the best thing that small water buffalo could do was just get behind a big one but once you got
Behind a big one that's all you had to do he says let me actively force you to remember the gospel because if you forget
It if you begin to disbelieve in it you're in trouble and God sees sin so and God loves this church and he gave
The church baptism and the Lord's supper he gave it the Bible he gave us each other through leadership and church discipline we're going to
Spend the rest of our couple weeks talking about that before we get into mission as we look at how much Jesus loves his
Church that he was willing to to defend he died for her and he protects her Matt the Christ a communion with the body
Of Christ because there's one bread we who are many are one body for we all partake of the one bread we are all
Participating in the broken body and the shed blood of Jesus as we partake in communion and today if you are a Christian I encourage
You to remember your baptism so that you can say no to sin so you can remember and know your outcome that you who
Were buried with him will also rise with him and as we take communion I want us to remember Jesus that his body was
Broken for us that his body was broken for you that you get to participate in the gospel as you place faith in Jesus
That when he died you died with him and that his body was broken that his blood was shed so this room is filled
With people who believe fully that the only thing that makes us okay is Jesus repent don't hide be real about your sin and
Your weakness where you've actively been running from Jesus grab somebody who's in your community group grab somebody you don't know and say I
Need to talk to you because I've been running I need to talk to you because I've been acting like how un-okay sin is
That God had to die I need to talk to you I need to be open about this Jesus I need to talk to
You you died for my sin that I could be free don't let me let it hang around don't let me think it's okay
Don't let me don't let me dishonor the cross by acting like sin is small because it's not small rebellion against a holy God
And it actively seeks to destroy us and remove us from his presence and to kill us for an eternity and as we get
To take in communion we get to celebrate that that doesn't have to be true for us that Jesus died for us but that
We get to repent to be honest about where we're broken because our hope is in Jesus not in our behavior so as we
Participate in the gospel I actively ask you to remember the cross and apply it to your heart and if you're not a Christian
Place your faith in Jesus that your sin would be covered publicly be baptized to proclaim that I believe this and I once and
For all physically want to remind myself that this is true for me and gather with our church and begin to take the Lord
Supper as you remind yourself that I need the gospel and that sin is destructive but our God is good because he was destroyed
So that I don't have to be God we pray that we would approach your table in a worthy manner that we would rightly
See the gravity of sin that we would understand that these gifts you gave us were given in the midst of a conflict that
We would hold on to them that we would cling to them we would use them God as you design them to fight sin
In our souls to draw us into you we wouldn't hang them on a mantel and ceremonialize them that we wouldn't just make them routine
Thing that we do but that God we would stand firm in them as we stand firm in you God I pray that through
Your Holy Spirit you would lead us to repent so that we can fully celebrate in what the gospel has purchased for us which
Is our hope and our joy and our redemption that none of us are good on our own but that you died so that we
Could be free free from sin and free from death and have hope and life in you in Jesus name we pray amen
Apr 24
We Love Each Other
Transcript
Good morning. My name is Chet. I'm one of the pastors here. We're in our third week of our Home Sweet Home series, which is where we're just taking some time to ask, what is the church? Who is the church? And how is the church supposed to organize?
What is the church supposed to look like? How did the church become the church? Those kind of questions that I know have just been really weighing you down and burning on your mind. But really, it's massively important for us as a church and as the church to understand how we ought to be shaped, how we ought to organize, how we ought to think about ourselves. So what we've said so far is that the church became the church through Jesus, through his actions on our behalf, that it's not about what you do or who you are or how you act or your morals or following some rules or something.
It's about what Jesus has already accomplished through the cross. And then once he accomplished our salvation through the cross, through his death, his life, death, burial, resurrection, and our faith in him, then actually we begin to change. We begin to love Jesus. We begin to hate sin. We begin to love the Bible and love his church and love his mission. And so today we're going to spend a little more time looking practically at what it looks like for us to love each other, for us to love one another.
I thoroughly enjoy that show Shark Tank. It's a show with a bunch of sharks in a tank and they throw, it's actually these investors who are called the sharks in the show. People come in front of them and pitch ideas for businesses, pitch ideas for inventions, and then they decide whether or not they're going to invest. So they basically say, here's my idea, here's how much money I want. They negotiate, they haggle, and I just thoroughly enjoy it. My dad was an entrepreneur growing up and he invented different things periodically, mostly just stuff we use around the house.
And he started several different businesses and I got to work in some of his business. I have a business, I have a business degree. And so I just, the whole time I'm just soaking it up because it's negotiating and it's like, and it's also like these inventions and some of them are just terrible. I've got a few of those to share with you this morning. One guy brought on Throx, T-H-R-O-X, and that is socks sold in packs of three. Huh?
That was really it. He was like, what if when you bought socks, you got one extra one who wants to invest? Throw your money at me. Like that was his plan. And basically the point was, you're going to lose one anyway. Why not have an extra one already?
And so I don't think anybody invested in that. There was the hoodie pillow, which is a pillow with a hoodie on it for people who want to smother themselves and die in the middle of the night. Squeaky knees was an outfit for toddlers or little infants that basically put little squeaky toys on their knees so that when they crawled, they made squeaky noises constantly. I have a one-year-old and that's one thing I've thought on a regular basis is I wish he made more noise. If only he could be more aggressively in my face all the time. Like that's, that's what I want.
Pet paint, which is basically spray paint for your dog, which sounds great for other people's pets. My personal favorite, and I watched this one, I was going to take a second to explain is elephant chat. Elephant chat is a little wooden pedestal and a little clear like plexiglass box. And inside of it is a stuffed little, uh, elephant stuffed animal thing. And it is for, you have this sitting in your house all the time, the little elephant and the plexiglass thing. And then when you are mad at someone in your family, you're upset by something, you take the plexiglass off and now you got to deal with the elephant in the room.
This is the point of this so that you would come home from work and the elephant would be out of its cage and you'd be like, son of a God, like I hate that stupid elephant. I don't know. And then when you argue, uh, discuss, you are supposed to take the elephant and only the person holding the elephant can talk. And you pass the elephant back and forth. And this was the idea they pitched. And this only costs $60.
You could do this with a rock and a napkin. Like you could just put a rock on the table and when the napkin, like, but like, I don't know. That was the point. I don't think anybody invested in that either. Cause they were like, seriously. Um, but here's the thing on shark tank.
Periodically people come in and they have leveraged everything for their business. And a lot of them have actual good ideas that they have quit their jobs for. They've pulled money out of savings for. They've taken out loans for. They put blood, sweat, tears into, and they come in and they are sold. They are completely all in on their business.
And when they pitch it and whether or not they get a good response or a bad response, like you can tell they have poured themselves into this. And that regardless of whether or not the sharks invest or don't invest, they're going to continue to pour themselves out for this. And honestly, as we read in the pages of scripture, that is to be our attitude towards the church, towards Jesus, towards his people, towards his mission. We're to be like those in inventors that have poured themselves out. They've as it seems as if every hour they put into it, they love their business more. Every time they had to pull money out for it, every time they had to quit their job for it, they become more and more and more and more invested in what they're doing.
They're more all in to what they're doing. Like they've put everything in on this one idea, this one business. And the church is supposed to be that, that we as Christians, when we become Christians, are supposed to go all in, put everything we have into God's people and his mission. That's what we're designed to do. So the Bible uses the illustration of a family.
And it's actually not even an illustration. The Bible says we become a new family. Romans 8 says that Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers and that we're all adopted as sons. That basically when Jesus died for us and we placed faith in him, we're actually brought into the family. That we've given not only a new father, but brothers and sisters. And that we're to be absolutely devoted to and committed to the church.
So I'm going to pray and we're going to hop in and begin to look at somehow we see this in Galatians. And then we're going to, we're going to keep moving today and actually jump through a good bit of scripture. But I think it's going to be helpful as we get to see what the church is supposed to look like. So let's pray. God, we pray that as we study your words, you would begin to, to change us. God, that you would be at work in our hearts to make us into your people and to shape us more into the image of your son.
We love you and we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. So Galatians one, go to Galatians one. We'll be in, we're going to look at one through five. And here's basically what we're going to look at.
We're going to try to see how, if you don't have a Bible, there's some on the rows, it'll be on page 631. We're going to see how Paul understands his identity in light of being a part of God's new family, how he understands who he is and who he's talking to. And here's, here's one of the problems we run into when, when you read through and you hear that God's a new father and that we're a family now and that we're a true, real eternal family is that some of us have really busted up families. Some people hear that and they say, oh, it's beautiful because they can, they readily draw on good pictures of what a family is supposed to look like.
But others of us hear that and it's like, that sounds terrible. Like my, my father was terrible. I don't want to be told that God's a father. Does that mean he's distant? Does that mean he, he pieces out as soon as it gets difficult? Does that mean I never really get to know him?
Does that mean he's really harsh? Like, uh, when you say we're brothers and sisters, you're like, man, that's, that's terrible. But here's, here's the reason why it's so helpful. First of all, we get an actual good new eternal father and we get actual good eternal family. And part of the reason we've been so hurt by our families is that we knew what a father was actually supposed to look like. Even when we didn't have a good example of one, we knew deep down, this is what it should have been like.
That's why we say things like, oh, she's like a sister to me. Because we know that once it gets to a certain point, it's like, we're more than just friends. This is actually a family relationship. And even if we don't have good ones, we know they should have been good. We know what they should have been like. And the Bible says that actually Jesus redeems that for us, brings us into a new family.
And so we're just going to read as Paul writes in Galatians, this is the beginning of just one of his letters. And we're really just looking at how Paul understands his identity, who he is and who he's talking to through this lens. Paul, an apostle. Apostle means sent one. So basically chosen to be sent out like a delegate.
Paul, an apostle, not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. So he's saying, I'm an apostle. I'm sent out by Jesus and God the Father and all the brothers who are with me. So he's writing Paul, an apostle, and he tells how he became a possible apostle. And then he says, and all the brothers who are with me are writing this as well. And the word brothers there in the Greek means brothers and sisters.
It basically means siblings. So if some of you took Spanish, and I think French is the same way, they have like the masculine form of the word that includes both masculine and feminine. So we have brothers and then we have sisters and then we have brothers and sisters. A lot of other languages just would include brothers and that would include both. And so that's kind of like our word for siblings. So basically what he's saying is the family here, Paul and the family here are writing to you in Galatia, which was a different city where he wasn't.
And the brothers who are with me to the churches of Galatia. So his understanding was there's a city in Galatia and there are multiple churches there. They all belong to the same big church. They all belong to Jesus, but there's a local church that you would belong to these people. You would be devoted to these people. You'd be a part of this church.
And there's another church that belongs to you in that you're all Christians, but you don't specifically know all of those people aren't connected to all those people. They belong to each other in a distinct way. So that's what he's writing to multiple churches in this city. Grace to you and peace from God, our father. So he's writing saying, Hey, the family here is saying grace to you.
We're writing this letter to you and peace to you from God, our father. We all now have the same father, which means we're all siblings. We're all brothers and sisters. We're all family now. So he writes, Hey fam, peace to you from God, our father.
And the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God and father, to the will of our God and father, to whom be the glory forever. And amen. So that's how he starts his letter in chapter in verse three at verse 11. He's going to say, brothers, I want to remind you. And there's throughout all of Paul's letters. He's going to say, Hey, brothers, Hey, brothers and sisters.
Hey family. I want to remind you. I want to exhort you. I want to tell you this. I want to show you this, but he understands that his identity identity is marked by what Jesus has accomplished, made us into a family. And so throughout the new Testament, it's going to tell us over and over and over again, how we ought to relate to one another, what it looks like for us to be a part of this new family.
So it's the same thing where some of us had really messed up families, but we have an idea of what it's supposed to look like. Some of us have been a part of really messed up churches. And I'm about to say today, we're just going to look through and say, well, this is what it's supposed to look like. This is what by God's grace, it gets to look like through what Jesus has accomplished for us. And so here's what we're going to do in the new Testament. There are 59 verses that have the phrase one another, where it is specifically talking to the church.
This is how you relate to other people in the church. So Christians, this is how you treat other Christians. This is how you ought to relate to one another. So it'd be the same as if you said, okay, this is, this is what a family is like. And this is what a father is supposed to do. And this is what brothers and sisters are supposed to do.
The writers of the new Testament over and over again, it said, this is how you ought to relate to one another. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to walk through 59 one another's to see what it looks like for the church redeemed by Jesus to relate to one another's family. Y'all ready? 59. I'm going to just read them.
Don't try to get all these, like just, just kind of take it in. Sometimes when you're reading scripture, it's like a wine tasting. You take one verse, you swirl it around, you smell it. You're going to swish it around in your mouth and you're going to like, I don't know, I think you're supposed to spit it back out at that point. And then you drink it again. Like you're trying to get the, all of it out of that one little sip.
We're not doing that today. We're like pouring a bucket of water on our head just to kind of get the, Ooh, okay. I get the picture. Like that was aggressive. I see what we're doing here. So that's what we're doing today.
It's not a wine tasting. It is a ice bucket challenge. We're going to run through really quickly and just try to see what the Bible says, what the new Testament says about how we ought to relate to one another. And we can give you this list later if you're interested in it. Um, so 59, here we go. Be at peace with one another.
We will stop every once in a while and I'll give commentary kind of like I just did there. Uh, wash one another's feet. That's Jesus talking to the disciples after he washes their feet, love one another, love one another, love one another, love one another, love one another, be devoted to one another in brotherly love. And so basically as the church, we're to be committed to devoted to each other. We're to go all in for one another. We're to, we're to push all of our chips onto the table for the sake of one another, honor one another above yourselves, live in harmony with one another, love one another, stop passing judgment on one another.
Uh, that basically is stepping in and saying, uh, have a conversation. See, passing judgment is I see you doing something and I think, okay, well, if he's just going to be like that, then we're just not going to be friends anymore. Or you do something to me and I just say, okay, well, she's, she's just like that. I'm writing her off. And what he's saying is you've passed judgment. You've condemned somebody.
And what we're supposed to do is actually when something happens is go talk to him, assume the best, assume that they can change, assume that they didn't do it intentionally. So stop passing judgment on one another, accept one another. Then just as Christ accepted you, which means everybody's invited in. Jesus didn't raise the bar really high. He went and accomplished it for us and accepted everybody. So accept one another as Christ accepted you instruct one another, greet one another with a holy kiss.
When you come together to eat, wait for each other, have, that's a problem for some people who are conditioned, always late to their community group, but it says, wait for him, uh, have equal concern for each other. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Greet one another with a holy kiss. Be affectionate. I think is what that's getting after. Um, serve one another in love.
If you keep on biting and devouring each other, you will be destroyed by each other. So don't harm each other. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Uh, this one is, uh, says carry each other's burdens. Sometimes the church carrying each other's burdens looks like our church coming together to help another church across the state, across the globe. Um, when, when there was the, the flood here, uh, I know a guy who I went to high school with, who's a pastor of a church in, in Augusta.
He called me and said, Hey, I know you're going to have to be doing some flood work, some flood repairs and stuff. Uh, our church just took up and I think it was, uh, it's around $2,000, a couple thousand dollars that they just said here, we're sending to y'all for whatever y'all need to use it for, for flood stuff. Sometimes that's what it looks like. Um, a lot of times though, it looks like real relationships with real people who have real burdens that you step in and help carry. So it's going to look like helping somebody move.
It's going to look like your group accommodating someone else in your community group and meeting at a different time. It's going to look like, um, washing each other's children, washing each other's clothes, letting people stay with you. If there's a need, it's going to look like getting together and saying, okay, you lost your job. Uh, we can do $25 a month until you're able to find a new job. And, and another couple saying, yeah, we're actually going to cancel our direct TV and we'll be able to do 75 a month. And we're going to start praying really hard that you get a job before football season.
That's our prayer. Like we're going to come together and help bear one another's burdens. Like we're going to, we're going to step in and say, I'm going to, I'm going to help here. I'm going to leverage my time, my energy for you. Um, carry each other's burdens, uh, be patient, bearing with one another in love, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other. Those were all kind of right in the same area together.
Uh, Paul wrote those and he's basically assuming that if you're in real relationships with real people, you're going to need some patience. You're going to need some compassion and you're going to need to be willing to forgive actual real things, big, uh, sins that were committed against you. You're going to be able to step in and forgive as Jesus forgave you that we're going to be in real relationships so that there's real offense. Now we say this a good bit, but it's like there's couples that are like, Oh, we never fight. It's like, Oh, y'all don't hang out with each other very much. Like y'all just, one of you secretly mad.
Like what? Yeah. You know, cause like if you hang out with a person, John, people are the worst. Like if you hang out with people, they're going to sin, they're going to cause problems. Like there's going to be some conflict. And so Paul saying, yeah, be around each other enough so that there's actually room for now you need to forgive.
Now you need to have compassion. Now you need to work it out. Speak to one another with Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Y'all know that when we sing, we're not just singing to God or for our own benefit. We're actually singing for the benefit of everybody around us. Like we're speaking to one another.
We're rehearsing truth to one another. So sometime when you're singing on a Sunday, just turn and make eye contact with someone. Just be like, and then just start singing. Like, don't do that. But, but you know, that's part of the reason we're singing is to, is to encourage one another is to, to point one another back to truth, to hear all of these voices of all these people who know and believe the same stuff. Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ in humility, consider others better than yourself.
And we also read earlier, honor one another above yourselves, that we as Christians are just supposed to assume that others are more important. We're supposed to go out of our way to, to look out for the interests of others, not our own, that we're to believe as Christians that I'm the least important person in the room. Just as Jesus honored us when we didn't deserve honor, just as Jesus humbled himself when he deserved to be glorified. We as Christians are supposed to follow after him, humbling ourselves and honoring others and looking out for their needs, not ours. Do not lie to each other, bear with each other, forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another, teach one another, admonish one another.
Those are in the same verse. So basically we need to coach each other up, teach. We need to say, Hey, you're not looking at that correctly. You need to see this, or I just don't feel like you understand this. And we need to admonish one another, which means rebuke, step in and say, Hey, you're wrong here. We need to care enough about each other to actually step in and say, Hey, you're wrong.
Like you're not treating her properly. You're not acting correctly here. You need to change. You need to grow, make your love increase and overflow for each other, love each other, encourage each other, encourage each other, build each other up, encourage one another daily, spur one another on toward love and good deeds, encourage one another that we as Christians should be going out of our way to say, encouraging things to each other should be looking for ways to step in and say, Hey, I just want to point out where I see Jesus at work in you. You're hanging out with our group. It's the first time you've actually confessed sin.
Do you know how huge that is that you were honest with us tonight? Do you know how big that is? That means Jesus is at work in you that you actually believe the gospel going up to someone and saying, Hey, I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you're always bringing food. When we come hang out with our group, like, like every week I eat your Doritos and I just want to say, thank you like for doing that. Some people, you need to say to them, Hey, every time you hang out with our group and you say, Hey, I just want to share something I've been reading in scripture and you share something like it.
I learn Like every single time you've said, Hey, I want to share something. I've been Jesus has been teaching me. I learned stuff. You probably should do that more often, but going out of our way to find ways to encourage one another. Do not slander one another. Don't grumble against each other.
Confess your sins to each other So that we would as Christians when we sin we'd own up to it When others sin we would talk to them not about them We would just go to the person instead of slandering them. We would just go confront them We would just go talk to them. We would just go work it out with them Pray for each other love one another deeply from the heart live in harmony with one another love each other deeply Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling open your homes open your refrigerator open your Wallet have some people around your table do that on a regular basis Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others You should just understand that when God blesses you it's for the benefit of your church family Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another greet one another with a kiss of love Love one another love one another love one another love one another love one another love one another all that was John and he said that a lot He really was trying to drive that home That the church is to love one another In John in his gospel. He he says that Jesus tells him this before he before he's gonna go to the cross He says a new commandment I give to you.
This is John 13 34 and 35. We're gonna have it on the screen A new commandment I give to you that you love one another Just as I have loved you You also are to love one another That Jesus says the way I loved you the way I served you the way I humbled myself for you the way I went out of my way for you That's how we ought to love each other and then he says this by this All people will know that you are my disciples If you have love for one another That that's to be the defining Mark Of the church that's what christians are supposed to look like so just imagine for a second those 59 things We just went through just imagine a group of people that actually Did all that Actually when they sinned just owned up to it didn't try to hide it When others sinned they didn't talk about them. They just went and talked to them They just went and said hey, I just want I need to talk to you about this because this offended me or this hurt me or I was confused by this or I need to clarify with you or Just loved one another just assumed when they entered the room. They were the least important person there So let's just let's say for a minute.
Yeah, like we're all on an expedition in africa We're going to uncharted areas. We're walking through the woods hacking stuff down We finally come to this little like crevice and a rock and we we all decide this seems like a good idea So we just like go into this weird cave and then it opens up to this area where there's like waterfalls and butterflies and like Pixie dust like it's just like this place shouldn't even exist. It's beautiful and we we meet a group of people That actually does all of these It may take a little while for us to see it if we realize this is what's happening They're not perfect, but when they mess up they just own it. They go talk to each other They bear one another's burdens as if someone gets sick, they all just rally around them I think we'd be there for just a little while and I'd start being like We're gonna mess this up Like I suddenly feel a little bit Uncomfortable like I'm gonna like this is this is gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna teach y'all how to do bad things Like because I'd go over to someone and be like could you believe what that guy just did and that would be the weirdest thing because they wouldn't do that He'd be like, I don't know.
Did you talk to him? I'm like, no I'm talking to you That guy's the idiot I'm trying to make myself look better but point it out. What is your problem? By God's grace, this is actually what the church gets to look like Because Jesus has already equipped us with everything we need to actually do this He's loved us more than we could ever Ever love him in return and so we get to just out of that love love each other He's humbled himself. He's served us. He's forgiven us and so with all that we're equipped to actually do this and without the cross We can't Without the cross you can't confess sin you need to be looking pretty good You need to make people think more highly of you than you really are.
You can't tell them you're depressed You can't tell them you're hurting. You can't tell them you're weak. You can't tell them you keep messing up Not without the cross But without the cross what we're saying is that all of us are broken all of us are busted All of us are bankrupt and that Jesus paid for it so that when I come tell my group Hey, I just want to tell y'all I'm kind of secretly a jerk I want to tell y'all how I've been treating y'all poorly I want to tell y'all what I've been up to I want to tell you what happened in my past They're not they're not surprised We all became christians by being sinners in the first place in need of grace The the gospel actually equips us for all this That's why we say we're a gospel-centered community on mission because we have a gospel-centered part. Well, this this all breaks down It all falls apart so That's what the church is supposed to be A group of people that treat one another like that because they've been so overwhelmed By how they were treated like that through Jesus on the cross And that's why some of us are so frustrated around the church Because we're approaching it incorrectly Like I know a really good way to be frustrated at my house Is to when I get home from work bust through the door and basically have this attitude I'm here Focus on me now I have entered The king has arrived Silence the child.
Where's my food? Like if I approach my house that way and sometimes my heart is there Just being real with y'all sometimes I rock up to the house and that's kind of where my heart is That's kind of where my attitude is Let me tell you something those nights are miserable Because that's not how my house works Like I'm I'm only setting myself up to be absolutely miserable And it's going to be the same with my son as he grows up if he thinks our house is going to revolve around him surprise It's not It's the same with my wife if she thinks that everything is going to like it just it breaks down when all of us just assume I'm the most important Some of us walk into a church that's supposed to be a group of people absolutely Humbled and shattered by the cross and overwhelmed by grace and love and forgiveness and we do the exact same thing Jesus says that that he came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and that If you want to be great in the church, you'll be a servant and you'll be a slave Just for a second if you if you're Think about our local southern church culture And if you're not familiar with american southern church culture Bless your heart And welcome glad you're here um perk up learn something um Think about our local church culture and here's basically What if what if everybody went from? Our current attitude to just believing I'm here to serve If you walk into a room and your attitude is I'm a servant I'm the least important person here How much joy is now open up to you? If I come home and I know I'm gonna walk through the door and immediately what I get to do is help my wife out by Pulling the son off of her who probably has a stick for some reason and I don't know how he got it and like just Trying to help take care of him so that she can rest a little bit and I'm gonna help with with food or I'm gonna help Watch him so that she like whatever like if I come in and I just know I'm gonna roll around on the ground and wrestle with my son And I'm gonna try to have a conversation with my wife and everything I have all my energy whatever is devoted to them like There's so much joy open to me now Because that actually gets to happen That actually is an opportunity for me Here's the problem with us as americans We're australians Westerners Here's the problem with us.
We've been taught We've been taught to be shoppers To be capitalists Consumers If I go to a restaurant And you ask me how was it? Oh, I can tell you everything I wasn't doing it actively, but I can tell you how comfortable it was how loud it was How much I enjoyed the ambiance the feel how the the waiter or waitress was how long we had to wait how much it cost How much I thought cost to food ratio was was it a lot of food but low quality? I'm, okay with that. Was it a high quality food, but about this big not coming back like you know I can tell you I can tell you all of that I can tell you oh that place is great because you don't have to tip like they just hand you your food You go sit down you bust your own table or I can say you got a factor in tip there Like you're gonna know that's gonna cost you three extra bucks.
So it's a trick. What's written on the thing like I can tell you And I didn't sit while I was eating and think about all of that. I've just been taught to be a shopper If I come hang out with a church and you ask me how was it I like this I didn't like this I didn't this this this this this because we've been taught to be shoppers And all I can tell you is how much better would every local church in our city be if all of us went from shoppers to servants If everybody actually just started looking like this My uncle was um He's a nigerian. He um I was from obomashaw. He's of the yoruba people group He's been in my family as long as my mom has he was adopted and when he came to the u.s.
Uh He you know grew up most of his life in nigeria has family there But he came to the u.s. To go to school and when he came to the u.s. And he went to college he walked out of his dorm He walked to the end of the end of the road and I guess he just decided to go one way or the other Decided to go right so he went right and then he Walked and saw a baptist church and that was where he had become a christian through baptist going to nigeria And he said okay, and he made note of when they met on sunday And he showed up on sunday and that was his church for the four years. He was in school Because it was the closest baptist church to his house He was just looking for a group of people that belonged to Jesus and that was his people And part of me thinks that's kind of crazy What if that church was terrible?
For real though And I think what my uncle would have said was then how much more would they have needed me? What if they what if they were really messed up Those people belong to Jesus and Jesus sent me here and put me right next to him How much more so would they need me? If we're really family And they're hurting How much more do they need me right now? I think that would have been his response And the the little american shopper inside of me dies a little bit Now I'm not saying it's wrong to have some preferences. I I don't know I'm I'm very americans I got to think through this a little bit But I can tell you what I am saying is how much better and how much more biblical Would all of our churches look if we suddenly went from shoppers to servants If you quit approaching it as what am I getting out of it?
And what am I putting into it? Who have I served recently? What do I have that I can use for the benefit of our church family? What do I have that I can use for the benefit of my group? What have I been gifted in what has God blessed me with what do I own? What is he do I have a good job do I make a lot of money do I can I cut grass like what can I do To serve our church family And just assumed you were a servant how much more beautiful would this be We'd actually get to begin to look like Jesus's people on earth and then that's where he says if you love one another like this People will know that people would come in and we'd be the weirdest group of people they ever hung out with Because we were just straight up about honest about our junk and then when someone else sinned against us We just went and talked to them You can't do that.
Can you? Y'all are all mad at each other. So you got in a room and hashed it out No, sweep it under the rug or just avoid each other, right? Like stop being friends like there's so many things it's like but we would actually get to just Commit up front we begin to look like the church. We say things in church culture like this What's going on with that church? Ah, it just wasn't for me Right That is correct We hear that and think oh, okay, you looking for another one?
No the church wasn't for you It's the church is for Jesus And you exist for the church like you exist for the rest of the people around there Or we say things like I just have to do what's best for me I I have had people say that to me and my response has been yeah That does not come from here Jesus did not do what was best for him And he has a group of people who follow after him doing what's best for others So here's here's how this is supposed to work in the church Um in poker you have chips You bet chips if you win the hand you have the higher hand you win all the chips on the table And there's a thing on poker called going all in And that's where you put all your chips on the table And let me tell you you've never played poker. I'm going to teach you something after you've gone all in You don't fold Because all your chips are on the table You see all the cards Now you may pray And try to do like statistical math as it gets closer to the end and you're like, okay I gotta have these two cards to win and then the next card comes you're like Okay, now I just need this card to win and like eventually maybe but you don't fold Nobody puts all their chips in pre-flop get and then folds before they see the next like they don't you You you stay in and that's the that's how we ought to be as the church Which is when you became a christian you pushed all your chips on the table Which means that we don't fold Someone in your community group can say hey, why won't you leave me alone? Why won't you just let me run away? Why won't you just let me alone so I can sin?
Why won't you just and stop and you look at him and say because I'm not folding All my chips are on the table. I can't quit We belong to each other Paul says it's like members of the same body that like we're body parts together You know when you stub your toe or you get a paper cut or like you hit your hand with a hammer you think up Too bad hand No This is your hand If it's your friend's hand you think too bad for your hand, but if it's your hand That's the way the church relates to one another when somebody's hurting when somebody's in pain when somebody celebrates like we're all tied together We're all all in together That's the way family works That's why the bible says we've been made into a new family We ought to treat each other that way when my younger brother was born He was born with two parents and two brothers and he had no say in the matter He had the last name he had he had the genetic makeup that he had he's gonna have a block head and be kind of short That's what happened. Sorry He had two brothers that tormented him One of his favorite stories is when I went to him and said hey, you want to play uh, like cops and robbers? And he was like, yeah, so I handcuffed him to a pole and then punched him a bunch Logan and I were older we my dad said he came home one time in the middle of the summer Comes into the house.
We're pouring in sweat and drinking like kool-aid and stuff and he's like where's vince? And we're like, oh because we were playing cowboys and indians and we had tied him to a tree And went in to get something to drink He was still tied to the tree when I said he went out there He's sweat pouring off his little face couldn't tell which was tears and which was sweat like but he couldn't sorry That's who you got Some people were born with really sweet nice sisters that cared for him. You didn't get that He's in He's committed It's the same thing with with uh, this past year when my wife and I she had a we had a son and we're at the hospital people told me When you mean the first time you hold your son It's gonna change you It's gonna be this moment and I guess I was too like geared up for it, but they handed him to me and I was like Yeah, I don't got I got nothing He's screaming he's covered in goo. It's like all right What do I do with this thing like what are you gonna?
I mean I don't emotion my way through the world. I just I was like, all right, let's do this You know, it's just ready to go, but I didn't have this like I don't know what I was expecting but like Time to slow down and speed up my heart to beat little tears come out like it just didn't happen Uh, and so like we're in the hospital and is in in the hospital bed and stuff She'd had a c-section so she couldn't really move around I'm holding him doing stuff and she goes Don't you just love him so much? And I was like He's all right She said she looked at me and said I'm serious and I went like anna we're guys we just met give me give me a minute You know, like I gotta get to know him And she She was in her little hospital bed tubes and stuff. She's like I'm going to punch you Uh But the truth was yeah Yeah, I did love him and it didn't have anything to do with what he'd accomplished or whatever like when when anna and I got married I pushed all my chips on the table I went all in And that was if she could have kids if she couldn't have kids if we ended up adopting if she ends up In it being sick if we have to go like I was all in and as soon as she said she was pregnant I was all in with archer.
I was all in with our son like that was it I don't know how he's gonna turn out He might grow up and be the most fun person I've ever met. He might be hilarious. He might be great. I don't know Maybe he'll be really serious and super smart. Maybe he'll work his whole life just to barely pass high school Maybe he won't work hard at all. Maybe he'll be a complete jerk.
Maybe he'll be rebellious his entire life Maybe he'll run away and I can't get to him. I don't know where he is half the time, but I'll tell you one thing I'm in I'm in for whatever all my chips are on the table. I'm not folding So whatever it takes whatever that means however that plays out over the course of his life. I'm in What the bible says is that when Jesus saved us And made us his and bought us through his blood we pushed all our chips on the table And that we were given brothers and sisters and we're all in We don't quit Jesus loves us bought us made us his we are an eternal family that one day when Jesus calls us home We'll gather around his table as his children forever And there won't be any more sin and there won't be any more pain and we'll have a glorious eternal family And then we get to start doing that right now That that's who the church is That if you're a christian you are committed to and devoted to Jesus Through his local church and that means you're all in with a group of real people Real sinners saved by Jesus in a real life in a real place and you're in Good bad.
Maybe he'll be really serious and super smart. Maybe he'll work his whole life just to barely pass high school Maybe he won't work hard at all. Maybe he'll be a complete jerk. Maybe he'll be rebellious his entire life Maybe he'll run away and I can't get to him. I don't know where he is half the time, but I'll tell you one thing I'm in I'm in for whatever all my chips are on the table. I'm not folding So whatever it takes whatever that means however that plays out over the course of his life. I'm in What the bible says is that when Jesus saved us And made us his and bought us through his blood we pushed all our chips on the table And that we were given brothers and sisters and we're all in We don't quit Jesus loves us bought us made us his we are an eternal family that one day when Jesus calls us home We'll gather around his table as his children forever And there won't be any more sin and there won't be any more pain and we'll have a glorious eternal family And then we get to start doing that right now That that's who the church is That if you're a christian you are committed to and devoted to Jesus Through his local church and that means you're all in with a group of real people Real sinners saved by Jesus in a real life in a real place and you're in Good bad. Otherwise you're in that's the church
So as long as we continue to approach the church on an incorrect basis We'll never get out of it what what it was supposed to be As long as you approach your family like they're optional you'll never have a family The way it's supposed to be and as long as we continue to approach the church Like it's a store like we're consumers The church makes a terrible shop It makes a great family Because that's what it was designed to be I got five quick ways specific ways that we get to begin to be all in I'm just trying to help us have some tangible steps First one is this join a church Commit to a local group of Jesus's people Quit shopping Some of you maybe you're actually uh, usually a part of another church and you're hanging out with us today Ah Go back to your other church and start serving Start assuming that you're a part of that church start assuming that your goal your role there is to serve I It doesn't have to be this church, but if you're a christian, it's a church that you are committed to That you're there and if they start getting off if they start not teaching the truth you're talking to them You're fighting for it If they start changing things wrongly, you're you're humbly submitting, but you're going and you're talking to them
So you're willing to submit to one another you're honoring them, but you're going to come you're going to talk to them You're going to confront them. You're going to work it out Join a church if you're a part of our church been hanging out for a while. Uh step two just join a group One of the ways that we commit to Jesus's people is with real people real faces real problems real Good qualities and bad qualities an actual group of people and the way that we do that here is by being in a group That you commit to a group Uh Some of you the way you're going to get to start going all in is by giving and serving You're going to begin to assume that whatever you've been blessed with whatever energy talents Finances whatever belongs to Jesus and his people that it's for their good And so you're going to begin to start giving and serving Begin to start putting some some of your own energy some of your own way And I don't know what that looks like It's going to be different per person for what they're given what they've been blessed with what their talents are what their skill set Some of you the way you actually begin to go all in is you need to quit hiding You've been holding on to some chips You've you've been not trusting Jesus's people to act like Jesus which is to To be able to be known in front of them and still be left
So you're holding on to some things that happened in your past you're holding on to some things that you've done You're holding on you you hadn't gone all in yet And you're designed to be able to say Jesus saved me from this He cleansed me from this and I'm all in with this group of people Some of you need to be reconciled Which just means that you've allowed some frustrations Some grievances To grow up between you and another christian You hadn't loved them enough to tell them or you know, you've been actively sinning against them and your attitude towards them or something You did to them and you've been hiding And in a minute when we stand up to sing you're going to need to go talk to them if they're in this room And if they're not in this room God in his grace has blessed you With a little machine in your pocket That can dial phone Numbers You're gonna need to call them Depending on how big it is you might can work it out over the phone if not you're gonna need to set up a time to get with them
But you're holding out And you're not treating them like family They need to work it out And for our church as a whole one of the ways that we're going to continue to move forward in this and being committed to one another is we're going to have some more formal Forms of membership through our community groups Where we're actually as a group and as a church looking and saying we all believe these things We're all going for this together and in our groups are going to begin to say this is what it looks like for us In lexington for us in red bank for us in downtown to actually be a gospel center community on mission committed to one another And this is how we're going to do that So what this is going to look like it's our groups are actually going to get together and start writing out some Here's what we're going for here's how this is going to look and we're going to commit to one another a little more formally Some of you need to become christians
Jesus has already accomplished everything if you be a part of his family You can repent of your sin and be made new be welcomed in And join an eternal family of a bunch of messed up people saved by Jesus bought by his blood and made blood together brothers and sisters for eternity Miriam and matt are going to come back up here and sing and here's what we're going to do We're going to take communion Which is us as christians Celebrating that Jesus has died for us has paid for our sin That when he died on the cross his body was broken for us his blood was shed for us and that we are saved by His sacrifice made into his people by what he accomplished for us If you need to be reconciled with somebody if you need to repent of some sin you need to go ahead and do that before you take communion Before you go celebrate that his blood has covered you that you've been saved through Jesus And then I want to us today as we take communion. I want us to celebrate That through Jesus's blood shed on our behalf We've been blood bought and made into a family That when you placed your faith in Jesus you were given not only a new father not only a new name not only a Salvation and hope and justification, but you were actually given a new family And I want us as a church to be devoted to one another in love to commit to each other and to go all in Matt and miss miriam are going to sing while we take communion and then we'll all sing together The words will be on the screen as they sing feel free to sing with them
But we will be taking communion as soon as as soon as we're done praying God we thank you for your grace God we thank you for each other That we have people that we get to be around in normal everyday life that are our family That we get to serve That we get to rally around when they're down and they get to do the same for us They get to admonish us teach us defend us God I pray that you would help every person in this room to be a part of your church To be a christian And to be committed to your people And God we we await the day When you take us home To live with you forever As your sons and daughters Purchased through your grace and through your cross We praise you in Jesus name Amen
Apr 17